This “slantback” template is his favorite keel fin design and is inspired by something that his fin making colleague/mentor Larry Gephardt came up with. According to Daniel: “You don’t want too much base on your keel otherwise the board can be too rigid. If you want to surf with that *gestures in a large rising and falling swooping motion* then this is the best fin”.

We’ve compared this fin with some other keels we have on hand and we can see the slant keeps a similar amount of surface area for drivey-ness but with the looseness that comes with a shorter base. So drivey but loose, just like a good fish ought to do.

Wood fins are nice because they float:

The layers of ply are like contours on a map. In this case they show off the lovely foiling that Daniel does: